‘Up All Night’ to shift to multi-camera sitcom

“Up All Night” returned for its second season with what seemed like a massive facelift. A sitcom that had once split its time between Christina Applegate’s life at work with Maya Rudolph and at home with Will Arnett and their baby instead refocused on the home life, canceling the show-within-the-show (and getting rid of the other characters who worked there), having Applegate replace Arnett as the stay-at-home parent, and introducing Luka Jones’ as Applegate’s brother and Arnett’s partner in a new contracting business.

Compared to what the show is about to do, all those changes amount to little more than getting a little collagen injected into the lips. The real overhaul is just beginning, and it will leave “Up All Night” unrecognizable by the end.

NBC announced today that the show is about to embark on a three-month production hiatus, during which the sets and stage will be converted from ones that can be used for a single-camera sitcom (shot on film, no audience or laughtrack) to a traditional multi-camera one (shot in front of a live studio audience). Six episodes have aired so far this season, and another five under the old format will air between now and December.(*) The series will return sometime in April or May with five multi-cam episodes, as a last-ditch attempt by NBC to get people to watch a show with stars they like, from a producer (“SNL” creator Lorne Michaels) they’ve been in business with forever.

(*) The mid-season hiatus leaves a second hole on the schedule (after the one “30 Rock” will leave when it finishes its final 13-episode season) where NBC might place “Community.”

“This was an idea we and Lorne came to in order to infuse the show with more energy,” NBC’s Bob Greenblatt said in a statement. “We know what the multi-camera audience does for the live episodes of ’30 Rock,’ plus after seeing both Maya and Christina do ‘SNL’ within the past few months, we knew we had the kind of performers — Will Arnett included — who love the reaction from a live audience. We think we can make a seamless tradition to the new format. Also, we’re committed to the multi-camera form and this will give us another show to consider for next season in this new format.”

What Greenblatt is alluding to without coming right out and saying it is that with the exception of “Modern Family,” all of TV’s big sitcom hits are presented in the traditional multi-camera format. There are other single-cam shows that do okay for themselves (ABC’s “The Middle,” for instance), but most of them tend to be like the rest of NBC’s sitcom lineup: low-rated critical darlings that hang around because someone at the network likes them, and/or because they don’t have anything better available. Critics and some younger viewers may consider the traditional format tired, but the audience at large has made its preference known, over and over. NBC has announced its intention to get out of the boutique comedy business, which is why the network introduced two multi-camera sitcoms (“Whitney” and “Guys With Kids”) over the last two seasons, and why the network will likely have even more of them next season.

As Greenblatt notes, several of the stars of “Up All Night” have a lot of experience performing in front of an audience (Applegate also did 11 years on “Married… With Children”). One of the show’s producers, Tucker Cawley, was a longtime writer on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and creator Emily Spivey wrote for “SNL.” But it’s going to be a very, very different show. The rhythms of single-cam and multi-cam humor tend to be very different(**). Single-cam jokes can be more conceptual and can take more time to develop, whereas multi-cam shows today have to keep feeding its audience gag after gag after gag to keep the laughter flowing.

(**) The one exception, unsurprisingly, is “Modern Family,” which employs a lot of writers with long multi-camera resumes, and which frequently smuggles the set-up/joke/set-up/joke cadence of a multi-cam show inside the mockumentary format of “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.”

Veterans of the multi-cam world will often complain that single-cam shows have it easy, and don’t have to try as hard to make people laugh because they’re not being performed in front of that audience. And “Up All Night” has generally felt like a poster child for that sentiment, with a lot of talented people placed in situations that seemed pleasant but rarely uproarious. This may, indeed, be a better use of everyone’s talent.

That said, this kind of format switch is an extremely rare move. It happened most famously – and successfully – in the ’70s when both “Happy Days” and “The Odd Couple” switched from single to multi early in their runs, but those were also shows that featured a laughtrack even in their single-cam days; the look changed much more significantly than the style of humor. A decade ago, NBC tried this same routine with “Watching Ellie,” a short-lived Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom that began life as a high-concept show (a real-time sitcom), then became a more familiar single-cam sitcom, then went multi-cam in its second season, without the ratings ever increasing notably.

Without the format change, “Up All Night” was a strong cancellation candidate. The only reason it’s even still on at this point is NBC’s attachment to the talent. But if “Whitney” and “Guys With Kids” are any kind of signpost for what NBC is looking for with its sitcoms going forward, don’t expect much more out of the new “Up All Night” than the old – perhaps even less.

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Another notable switch in style would be Blackadder, between Series 1 and 2. That was mostly done for budget reasons, but it did turn it into a much better show.

By: ed w

10.29.2012 @ 7:35 PM

If Up All Night killed off all the characters each season and kept restarting in a new era, I’d start watching again.

By: Oaktown Girl

10.29.2012 @ 8:47 PM

I think the fact that Blackadder turned into a better show had very little to do with the production style and a lot to do with the show finding itself. A lot of the best shows take time to find their footing. I’m still grateful for Alan’s blog for encouraging me to give Parks and Rec a second chance after I had dumped it in Season One.

As for Up All Night – I liked it much better last year. With no “Ava Show” a lot of the laughs and best of Maya Rudolph are missing. ‘Ava Show” gave both Maya and Christina a lot more funny and interesting things to do. Now it’s rather dull. Not sure how live audience and more cameras change that.

By: odessasteps

10.29.2012 @ 9:11 PM

Wasn’t the big change from Blackadder I to Blackadder II the addition of Ben Elton, to co-write the show with Richard Curtis?

By: Oaktown Girl

10.29.2012 @ 10:14 PM

@Odessasteps – whatever it was, it was pure genius!

By: pamelajaye

11.06.2012 @ 7:06 AM

I do miss the Ava show. I’m not thrilled with the brother either. It was a good show last season. Sad that no one likes stuff I like. Still happy with Season 9 of Grey’s Anatomy, so…

By: zzk

10.29.2012 @ 7:28 PM

I actually like the show as is, including the casting and plot changes of this season.

A laugh track is going to kill this show, especially Will Arnet’s comedic timing (stuttering and awkwardly hilarious) and force him into stupid one-liners.

Maybe they should just cancel the show and a create a new vehicle with some of the actors and executive producers behind it. This constant back and forth between what they think the show should be is tiresome and ultimately ruins it. I have dropped the show just last week, as I have been really unhappy with this season. Applegate’s and Arnett’s characters have become unbearable and Maya Rudolph seems to fit in even less now where they have dropped the show-within-a-show-angle. Also, I for once really liked that they had this mixture of homeplace and workplace-stories in season one, because it brought a little bit more variety to what topics they could cover. I know you guys said it didn’t work when the show first started. I however thought it worked much better than the mix of workplace and therapy scenes in “Go On”, simply because it gave the show a whole other angle and because Rudolph and Applegate worked off each other so well in these scenes.

By: Cy

10.29.2012 @ 7:30 PM

I don’t even remember Watching Ellie going to multi-cam and I watched it.

By: a

10.29.2012 @ 7:32 PM

Same here.

By: Crumdawg97

10.29.2012 @ 7:39 PM

I really enjoyed the real time, single camera version of Watching Ellie. Couldn’t watch after the switch to multi cam.

By: ed w

10.29.2012 @ 7:32 PM

I think it would be smart of NBC to focus on multicam comedies for a couple years, but as far as this show goes, nothing can save it. The main problem is the series isn’t really about anything. A new baby? That’s it? Even the slight Ben and Kate has more than that as a concept.

By: DonBoy

10.29.2012 @ 7:35 PM

I don’t see any multicam experience in Arnett’s IMDB listing, at all. I don’t even know if he’s done live comedy.

By: JREinATL

10.29.2012 @ 8:33 PM

You can almost hear NBC execs tearing their hair out. Generic, reliable concept. Likeable stars. But they still can’t get anyone to watch.

By: odessasteps

10.29.2012 @ 9:10 PM

Too bad the retooling didn’t include bringing in Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear.

/still beating this into the ground :>

By: Trilby

10.29.2012 @ 9:10 PM

I’m always surprised when people invoke their full critical powers on an amusing little half-hour comedy. But then, I’m the kind of person who rates things 5 stars or no stars. If I don’t like a show, hey I just don’t watch it any more.

By: ed w

10.30.2012 @ 12:08 AM

If I don’t like food at a restaurant I just don’t eat there anymore. And yet Yelp and Urbanspoon are very popular. People are different.

By: Ted Schmoesby

10.30.2012 @ 5:45 PM

@Trilby…I assume you mean the majority of commenters on these types of blogs and not the bloggers themselves. if so, I agree 1,000,000%!some of these “tv fans” take the seriousness of their commentary on these shows to an over-the-top level of absurdity

By: Trilby

10.30.2012 @ 6:53 PM

@ ED W- I suspect ego at work. And yes, differences.
@TED Of course! The posters not the bloggers!

By: Greg

10.29.2012 @ 9:25 PM

This is interesting… and weird. I’m curious to see what the new show will become, though the complete lack of good multi-cam sitcoms on TV nowadays doesn’t get my expectations very high. Anyway, I stopped watching the show midway through, the show is just a complete nothing. It’s not funny, it’s doesn’t work as a dramedy, it’s not even sweet or cute or lovable enough to make me enjoy just passing time with these people.

In any case, nothing can save this show from getting cancelled.

By: Ricardo

10.29.2012 @ 10:10 PM

“What Greenblatt is alluding to without coming right out and saying it is that with the exception of “Modern Family,” all of TV’s big sitcom hits are presented in the traditional multi-camera format. There are other single-cam shows that do okay for themselves (ABC’s “The Middle,” for instance), but most of them tend to be like the rest of NBC’s sitcom lineup: low-rated critical darlings that hang around because someone at the network likes them, and/or because they don’t have anything better available. Critics and some younger viewers may consider the traditional format tired, but the audience at large has made its preference known, over and over.”

I’m sorry Alan, but that idea is ludicrous. Multi-camera sitcoms are working only on one channel: CBS. Every other network has tried their The Big Bang Theory’s and Two and a Half Men’s and failed.

Like you said, ABC has “Modern Family” but they also have “The Middle” and “Suburgatory”. FOX has “New Girl” that sells more ad renenue than ANY of CBS’s comedies. NBC has “Go On” and “The Office” was a big hit for years.

My point is: multi-cameras only on CBS. In every other network, single-camera comedies tend to perform better than their multi-camera counterparts. Thanks god.

Up All Night is not funny and the change of format won’t change that.

By: Col Bat Guano

10.30.2012 @ 3:03 AM

Maybe they could try writing the central characters as likable and not self-centered monsters who appear to consider their child an impediment to reliving their 20’s? That might help more than a format change.

By: Neeraj

11.03.2012 @ 3:34 PM

I just watched the yard sale episode of Modern Family and I don’t think Alan’s description of it is accurate at all. It has long looping jokes that take time to develop and then jump out from nowhere, jokes that make you smile but not laugh out loud, and subtle jokes that take a moment to sink in. I’m not sure a laugh track would even work on that show. It’s not much like a multi-camera show at all, and is not evidence of his theory but rather an exception to it.

By: LJA

10.29.2012 @ 11:37 PM

I want to like this show, I really do. I just don’t. And the move to multi-camera is unlikely to bring me back for another try.

By: Let's be honest

10.30.2012 @ 12:16 AM

The thing most of the top-rated sitcoms have in common isn’t that they’re multi-camera. It’s their network.

By: Matt

10.30.2012 @ 1:22 AM

Yeah. Does any broadcast network besides CBS have a successful multi-camera sitcom? I’m very perplexed by Alan’s claims here. The only other multi-camera shows in recent memory that don’t belong to CBS are failed NBC sitcoms.

By: Greg

10.30.2012 @ 1:32 PM

But all of CBS sitcoms (including Rules of Engagement, but with the exception of Partners) have higher ratings than any other comedy on TV (with the exception of Modern Family). So yeah, one might argue it’s the multi-camera factor.

Last Man Standing premiered really well and its ratings only fell to a not so good zone when it got paired with Cougar Town, so one could say that one show sucked the life of the other. And Whitney was doing solidly (by NBC standards) on Wednesdays.

As for I Hate My Teenage Daughter, that thing was so badly treated by FOX (it aired merely four episodes on 2011, then it entered on a two-month hiatus), that it had no chance of succeeding.

By: Col Bat Guano

10.30.2012 @ 3:16 PM

I doubt the fact that Cougar Town followed Last Man Standing had anything to do with its ratings fall.

By: Adam

10.30.2012 @ 2:06 AM

I’m rooting for cancellation so that Community will come back, so I guess this is bad news.

By: DB Cooper

10.30.2012 @ 2:13 AM

What this show needs is a Robbie Rist type.

By: LJA

10.30.2012 @ 3:18 AM

Like

By: oliver

10.30.2012 @ 4:24 AM

Strongly agree!

By: Jim

10.30.2012 @ 4:32 AM

Whay have we turned sitcoms into an us vs. them, right vs. left, multi camera vs. single camera deabte?

Some days I like chocolate ice cream and some days a good vanilla is fine as well.

By: Cy

10.30.2012 @ 4:41 AM

Forgot to ask: Will Sean Hayes be joining them? He’s been on lately.

By: bitingsarcasm

10.30.2012 @ 2:35 PM

Maybe this is the solution to boffo ratings for ‘Community’. Every time Pierce walks into the study room the producers could turn on the applause sign. Or whenever Jeff, Annie or Troy walk in the crowds could let out an ‘OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’ I knew something was missing from that show taking off into the mainstream.

By: sajid anwar

10.30.2012 @ 2:48 PM

Are they getting new writers? If not, this is just banging your head against a concrete wall hoping for a crack to appear. Bottom line is that Up All Night simply isn’t funny.

By: neverreadyforprimetime

10.31.2012 @ 3:23 PM

Maybe it would be if Maya Rudolph could resurrect her Wakefield Middle School character from SNL.

By: mcspinelli

10.30.2012 @ 3:43 PM

Nothing can save this terrible show. The bottom line is: it isn’t funny. Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph were supposed to carry the comedy, but she’s the only funny one. They under-use Arnett and don’t play to his strengths when they do. Outside of Rudolph, the others don’t even seem like they’re playing characters. Just cancel it and try something else.

By: ANTHONY REYES

10.30.2012 @ 8:27 PM

The series was actually OK last year…now it’s just awful.

By: WaltEagle

10.30.2012 @ 8:57 PM

Regardless of how good it is, the fast-paced style of writing, comedy, joke timing, and acting (especially Arnett) has more in common with Modern Family and The Middle than any laugh track sitcoms on today. It will probably be almost as awkward as Sports Night before it ditched the unneeded laugh track.

By: Jaxemer11

10.31.2012 @ 7:08 AM

The problem isn’t the format, it is the terribly boring writing and Maya Rudolph (who has never been very funny). I like both Arnett and Applegate a lot, which is why I watch the show occasionally, but every episode is the same.

By: d2

10.31.2012 @ 2:16 PM

To be honest, I’ve only seen an episode or two from the first season and I kind of liked it as is. Stopped watching it because, well, it’s NBC. The only show on that channel that I watch religiously is Parks & Rec.

By: network snob

10.31.2012 @ 3:25 PM

Does anyone think that if CBS bought Parks & Rec and aired it after Big Bang Theory that it would suddenly take off in the ratings? I swear right now at least half of all viewers in this country love every thing airing on CBS and loathe everything attached to the Peacock logo.

By: fresser28

11.01.2012 @ 5:25 AM

Sorry; this facelift is too little too late. Arnett is just not believable as a nice-guy stay-at-home dad (his resume of smarmy guys is just to compelling to ignore) and Applegate seems oddly wan and unaffecting opposite him. Rudolph often seems shoehorned in, which is a disservice to her. Why don’t they just cancel it?

By: J

11.06.2012 @ 3:33 AM

I’m still reeling from that time when ‘Newhart’ switched from being shot on video to being shot on film.